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Wartime love story features in yarn bomb display

Alex Pope
BBC News, Hertfordshire
Secret Society of Hertford Crafters Two knitted characters, showing Agnes as a Land Girl and Gordon as a Home Guard, sitting down. They are in green a beige colours. Secret Society of Hertford Crafters
The real story of how Agnes and Gordon Taylor met featured in the new display in Hertford

A couple who met in a potato field during World War Two have been immortalised in a town's yarn bomb display.

Agnes and Gordon Taylor featured in the Secret Society of Hertford Crafters (SSOHC) latest work to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day.

Mrs Taylor spotted her future husband, Mr Taylor, while working as a Land Girl harvesting crops in Hertingfordbury, Hertfordshire.

She has now been depicted in wool, sitting on an upturned bucket in the middle of a field, as part of the display at The Mill Garden.

"This one is a special one, we usually do Christmas and summer displays, but this one really resonated with people as there are a lot of personal family stories in this one, including Agnes and Gordon, it's very personal," said Melanie Delaney, from SSOHC.

Secret Society of Hertford Crafters Princess Elizabeth, knitted in wool standing by an ambulance, with a red cross on it. She is wearing a uniform, brown shoes and a hat. Secret Society of Hertford Crafters
Elizabeth II drove an ambulance in World War Two

Mrs Delaney said the group was only too happy to include the story of how the couple met, as Mrs Taylor was a member of the group until she passed away in 2023 at the age of 99.

She said Mrs Taylor (nee) Mant spotted her husband, who was a member of the Bengeo Home Guard, while he was working for his father, who was a potato merchant for the whole area during the war, and he had come to collect the crop.

They married in 1950 and lived in Bengoe until Gordon's death in 2017, and in 2019, Agnes joined the knitting group.

Secret Society of Hertford Crafters A large group of knitted characters, on a table, the eight characters show someone in the army, a tec worker, a doctor, a fireman, an air ambulance worker, a paramedic, a vet and a man in a suit. Secret Society of Hertford Crafters
The display also included doctors, paramedics, firefighters, vets, engineers, nurses, vicars and people in tech

The display, which started in January, was a "woolly tribute to our military, civilian and animal heroes from 1945 and 2025", she said.

"We hope people will see the inspiration of people who served in the war has carried on today."

It featured a woolly Winston Churchill, a young Princess Elizabeth, evacuees, a resistance fighter and Alan Turing with a code-breaking machine, at Bletchley Park.

Secret Society of Hertford Crafters A group of people showing a display for Bletchley Park workers, mostly in uniform, with red poppies, including a dog and a man on a bike. Secret Society of Hertford Crafters
Workers from Bletchley Park, in Buckinghamshire, featured in the display

As a proud Canadian, Mrs Delaney crocheted and knitted a Canadian Sherman tank, known as a Bomb.

"For me, it's brought the past and the present together, it's been really lovely."

Secret Society of Hertford Crafters A green Canadian tank, called Bomb, on the ground, that has been knitted. Secret Society of Hertford Crafters
Melanie Delaney said she was "excited" to mark her heritage by making a Canadian tank
Secret Society of Hertford Crafters Two women holding a knitted banner to mark VE Day. The woman on the left has short fair hair, is wearing a white top and dark trousers and the woman on the right has long curly hair, is wearing glasses and has a on a green top, a spotted scarf and dark trousers. They are standing by a fire place. Secret Society of Hertford Crafters
Members of the group have spent hours knitting and crocheting characters, service people and signs for the display

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